TREATMENT UNDER LOCK

County Should Use Jail to Fight Addiction Cost

Addiction costs more than the $20 an addicted person pays his dealer
for a rock of crack cocaine. It costs more than the hourly salary of
a law enforcement officer who makes a bust and takes that user to
jail; more than the cost of processing a dozen or more people into
the branch jail each night on drug charges. The cost is spread across
the community, in shattered families, higher taxes and increased fear
of crime. It's a cost that everyone eventually pays.

So it makes sense, from a fiscal as well as a humane standpoint, to
try to break the cycle of drug abuse. If leaders try one approach and
it doesn't work, it's incumbent on them to find another. The worst
possible reaction is to sit back and do nothing.

Volusia County leaders have tried various strategies to help people
fight their way out of addiction. Some -- such as drug court, a
program that allows users to participate in a diversion program that
erases criminal charges if they stay drug-free -- have posted clear
successes. Eighty-five percent of drug court graduates stay clean.
Other programs, including jail-based addiction treatment, have fallen
flat, with a re-arrest rate similar (or even slightly higher) to that
seen among the general population.

County corrections officials have put the $160,000 jail treatment
program on the list of expenses to be cut. The County Council should
challenge them to find something better, understanding that other
communities have struggled with the same issues.

Jail-based programs face a few intrinsic hurdles. Some models just
don't work with a group of people who might not be motivated, at
first, to change. And many times, inmates aren't in the program long
enough to make significant progress; continuity after an inmate
leaves the jail can be crucial.

Still, some communities have shown success with jail-based programs.
And according to a recent report on treatment required by
California's Proposition 36 -- which mandates rehabilitation programs
for inmates with addiction -- that state saves $2.50 for every dollar
it spends in rehab costs.

Local officials should take a close look at a report published last
year by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which compiles research
with commonsense recommendations on successful strategies. Good
programs start with a careful assessment of each individual's
addiction pattern and other problems. Treatment should target
drug-related behaviors that are directly related to an inmate's
tendency to break the law, and incorporate goals and rewards that
keep offenders involved in their own recovery.

Most important: Treatment shouldn't stop when an inmate leaves the
jail. Follow-up care in the community can be crucial to long-term
sobriety. The county could also route more offenders through drug
court, keeping them out of jail altogether.

All of this may seem expensive -- until it's compared to the
alternative costs of rampant, unchecked addiction. The program
currently in place at the jail might not be the best fit for Volusia
County. The challenge is to find a program that does work for this community.